Alabama cotton crop ranks as Southeast's lowest

MOBILE, Ala. Alabama's drought-damaged cotton harvest bound for gins in the next few weeks ranks as the lowest production in the Southeast, with some fields not even worth picking, crop experts say.

Rain helped produced an average harvest near the coast, according to growers, but in cotton-rich north Alabama, the crop is described as "very poor," with yields falling below the break-even level for growers.

Cotton expert Charles Burmester at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System research center in Belle Mina said the bolls are on the plants, but because of the scorching heat they didn't develop properly and make the outlook "pretty bleak."

North Alabama got some rain in July, he said, but then it stopped and the Tennessee Valley area had two weeks of 100-degree-plus weather. While cotton is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, this summer's heat and a persistent drought proved a devastating mix.

Statewide, it was the driest on record from January through August, according to federal weather data. The U.S. Drought Monitor rates central and north Alabama as being in an exceptional drought, the worst ranking given by the federal agency. The area of exceptional drought, which has expanded into some neighboring states, is the only one in the country with that ranking.

Looking back on his 14 years as cotton specialist at Auburn University, Dr. Dale Monks said Friday that "this is the most difficult year we've had."

Because of the drought, he said, the fiber quality also is low and that will reduce prices for the crop.

As for next year, he said some growers may switch to wheat, corn and soybeans because of improved prices for those crops.

Burmester expects a cotton yield of 450 pounds per acre, but others call that optimistic. A yield of about 700 pounds is considered a break-even level for growers, he said.

Colbert County grower Neal Isbell said a 450-pound yield is an "optimistic" prediction.

"We've had two to three disasters in a row. Looks like '07 may be as bad or worse," Isbell said. Besides spreading drought last year, growers also struggled with hurricane damage in 2004 and 2005, leading some to seek disaster relief.

Growers can sign-up for USDA's new Crop Disaster Programs beginning Oct. 15 if they suffered quantity losses to their crops since 2005.

Cotton is grown in 59 of Alabama's 67 counties and had cash receipts totaling nearly $205 million in 2004. It improved to $258 million in 2005 with increased acreage and a yield of 747 pounds, then plunged to $187 million last year. Growers planted more last year, but yield was down significantly to 579 pounds per acre.

This year, by mid-September, Alabama's crop was described by the industry as 42 percent very poor; 28 percent poor; 22 percent fair; 7 percent good and only 1 percent excellent, making it the worst harvest among the 15 cotton states. By contrast, Mississippi's crop was described as 50 percent good and 16 percent excellent.

Steve Slinsky, assistant director of economic services at the National Cotton Council, said those parts of the Tennessee Valley in Alabama that didn't get adequate moisture may only produce 200-300 pounds an acre and upwards of 550 pounds in other areas that were more fortunate.

"We are going to have a lot of gins competing heavily for production, adjusting their shifts and their labor in Alabama," he said.

The Georgia crop "looks pretty decent, a lot better than parts of Alabama," he said, adding the crop looks "a little bleak" in the Carolinas.

"We're having a lot of gins in North Carolina cutting shifts in half to cope with reduced crop," Slinsky said in a telephone interview.

He said heavily irrigated Arkansas, however, could produce a crop with some stands over 1,000 pounds per acre.

In central Alabama, Richard Edgar of Deatsville in Elmore County said he finished cotton planting on 274 acres in early May and may only harvest half of it.

"It lay there until mid-June before enough rain fell. On June 20, the cotton came up and we've been behind the eight-ball ever since," Edgar said. "The bright spot for me has been wheat. The wheat market made a big swing on some international news."

Growers had reduced plantings of cotton this year by some 175,000 acres to some 400,000 acres, shifting to corn due to the ethanol craze that boosted corn prices, although the drought and heat cut into it. More soybeans also were planted this year. Irrigation kept many of those fields producing.

Cotton grower Tim Mullek of Robertsdale said Baldwin County growers anticipate an average crop "somewhere between 700-800 pounds range." They should start picking in early October.